Breathing for Life Trial

05/11/2025

The Asthma and Pregnancy Research Team kicking some major goals - 3 out of 5 pilot grants awarded by the Hunter Children's Research Foundation - HCRF were given to our team last Thursday 30 October!

Professor Vanessa Murphy for the project 'The Role of the Infant Microbiome in Asthma and Allergy Development Among Children at High Risk' - studying samples provided by our incredible BLT babies and their parents.

Dr Bronwyn Brew for the project 'Tracking Severe Wheeze from Infancy to Asthma in Childhood' - building on the solid foundation of BLT research.

Dr Gabriela Martins Costa Gomes for the infant lung function follow up study - for our new TTAP study cohort to develop new ways of predicting bronchiolitis.

Congratulations to the entire team!

03/11/2025

Some new findings from BLT published in the journal Allergy

Open access: Markers in Infants of Mothers With Asthma and Associations With Respiratory Outcomes. First author: Carla Rebeca Da Silva Sena; corresponding author: Urs Frey

Read the article here: doi.org/10.1111/all.70044


In the Basel-Bern Infant Lung Development cohort (BILD) and Basel-Bern Infant Lung Development cohort (BLT) cohorts, the authors compared cord blood proteins in infants of mothers with and without during pregnancy. Groups showed different protein levels. These markers were associated with postnatal lung function, bronchiolitis hospitalization, and asthma. Additionally, p62 was inversely associated with minute ventilation, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) inversely with functional residual capacity and bronchiolitis/asthma risk, while IFN-γ and MMP-9 was positively associated with lung clearance index, highlighting distinct protein–lung function and disease associations.



Read more articles published in on here: journalallergy.com/Asthma-Lower-Airways

23/10/2025

Come and chat to us about research! We’ll be here with HMRI till 10am

22/10/2025

The weather is heating up! 🔆 Large parts of NSW will have high temperatures and strong winds today, ideal conditions for bushfires to start unfortunately.
🔥Bushfire smoke impacts our health, and people with respiratory conditions, the elderly and children are particularly at risk.
To help prepare for the warmer months, check out our Infographics from the Severe Asthma toolkit, which were developed in association with - they contain helpful information regarding the health impacts of bushfire smoke, vulnerable populations and how to reduce risk.
👉https://toolkit.severeasthma.org.au/resources/infographics/

17/10/2025

Most people with asthma know about taking oral steroids after an asthma attack, but what about the long-term risks?
Join our free live class with experts to learn how to prevent asthma attacks before they happen and get answers to your questions. https://buff.ly/4h84AmT

14/10/2025

06/10/2025

24/09/2025

Rather than come up with our own statement I am linking to a reputable source in the experts at The Kids Institute. Please take care as you process what is being said by non-experts.

10/09/2025

You CAN make a difference for pregnant women with asthma.

We are actively recruiting across five different sites right now, looking for women with a medical diagnosis of asthma, who are between 12-17 weeks pregnant, and over the age of 18 years.

Recruitments sites are:
Newcastle - John Hunter Hospital
Maitland - The New Maitland Hospital
Gosford - Gosford Hospital
Sydney - Royal North Shore Hospital
Melbourne - Royal Women's Hospital

With more to come soon!

Don't wait - contact us today!

Hunter New England Central Coast Primary Health Network

NSW Health

The Royal Women's Hospital VicHealth Central Coast Health

Royal North Shore Hospital

09/09/2025

Paddy takes his preventer inhaler once in the morning and once at night ✅ It helps him avoid asthma attacks- and prevents a more dangerous flare-up that needs oral steroids to bring breathing back to normal. Learn how you and your child can Attack Asthma today: https://buff.ly/Xs7jvJT

01/09/2025

This Asthma Week (September 1-7) we’re asking parents to help flip the script and Attack Asthma for their child. It’s time we Attack Asthma before the symptoms start! 🙌

Asthma is one of the leading causes of hospitalisations for children. New research shows that while most parents feel like they are confident in managing their child’s asthma, nearly two-thirds live in constant fear of an asthma attack 😔

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Using a daily preventer can reduce the number of asthma attacks your child has- meaning less time spent feeling unwell or in hospital and more time to just be a kid.

Get the tools to Attack Asthma here: https://buff.ly/nznOeUN

27/08/2025